The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing a skin-covered article for use in a car seat, a sofa and the like.
Conventionally, such a skin-covered article has been made by covering a pad member made of foam resin with a skin member having a surface layer made of cloth or the like and a wadding layer made of polyurethane foam, and integrating the pad member and the skin member by adhesive or sewing. To simplify manufacturing of skin-covered article and give a proper hardness to the skin member, the skin member is placed on a lower mold of a mold assembly, foam resin being introduced into a cavity of the mold assembly, so that a part of the foam resin can penetrate into the wadding layer to integrate the skin member with the pad member.
In the above case that the pad member is foamed integrally with the skin member, it is required to set the skin member on a predetermined position precisely and hold the skin member on the predetermined position by fastening end portions with pins, adhesive tapes or the like. Therefore, there are drawbacks that the operation is troublesome, the skin member is damaged or made dirty by a pin or adhesive applied on the adhesive tape.
To solve the above problems, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-8019 discloses an apparatus including a lower mold having a fixed mold corresponding to a peripheral portion of a seat member and a movable mold corresponding to a sitting portion of the seat member, a skin member being placed on the movable mold, foam resin being then introduced into a cavity of the mold assembly with the skin member being held between the movable mold and the fixed mold.
In the above case that the skin member is held between the movable mold and the fixed mold, it is not required to use pins, adhesive tape or the like. Therefore, the skin member can be prevented from being damaged or made dirty. However, it is required to divide the lower mold into two portions and cause one of them to freely move up and down as the movable mold. Therefore, the structure of the mold assembly is more complicated. In addition, it is required to place the skin member on the movable mold in a state in which the movable mold is moved to an upper position, then to move down the movable mold to hold the skin member between the movable mold and the fixed mold, and thereafter to move down the upper mold to close the mold assembly. Therefore, a complicated operation is required before supplying foam resin.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for manufacturing a skin-covered article which have overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks.